The Irish Lunatic Asylums for the Poor Act 1817 was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It made Ireland the first nation in the world to require a national system of publicly funded asylums (which were a major source of wealth for the economy and a large provider of jobs in many towns), before this expanded to the rest of the United Kingdom.

[1][2] It also constituted the first time that a national bureaucratic system had been established by colonial social welfare policy[1] It led to the creation of a provincial asylum in each province.

[3] The Report of the Select Committee to Consider the State of the Lunatic Poor in Ireland (1817) was the main influence toward the creation and subsequent passing of the bill.

[1][2]